News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters' teachers ratified a new three-year contract agreement on Friday, June 11, including a 2 percent pay increase for 1999-2000.
The contract also calls for a 2 to 3 percent raise in each of the next two years, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The Sisters School Board will review the contract at its next meeting on Monday, June 21. Schools superintendent Steve Swisher told The Nugget he expects the board will sign off on the deal.
The school board included a 1.5 percent pay raise in the budget it passed last week. According to Swisher, there is room in the budget to account for the larger increase negotiated with both the teachers and the classified (non-teaching) staff.
"We do have some room to maneuver," Swisher said.
The superintendent noted that newly hired teachers are budgeted for at the middle of the certified employees' pay scale. However, this year's new teachers were hired at the low end of the pay scale. The difference should be enough to cover the bigger pay raise, Swisher said.
In addition to the pay increase, there were several changes to the contract that are pleasing to the teachers.
Kirk Albertson, the teachers' association representative, said many of the changes are "enhancements to the contract"
Alberston is a teacher at Sisters Elementary School.
Some of the changes put in writing current practices such as ensuring that a statewide in-service day is a non-student-contact day and that teacher "prep" time is continuous and uninterrupted.
Albertson said that one of the more significant changes involves tuition reimbursement from the district.
Teachers, under the new contract, will be reimbursed for six units of study every two years.
Previously it was six units every three years.
The new contract would guarantee reimbursement if the study is approved by the superintendent.
In past years, if the district ran short of funds, a teacher might not get reimbursed.
"Not that it's been a huge problem, but people were glad to see that, Albertson said.
Both Albertson and Swisher agreed that the contract negotiation process has been smooth and free of conflict.
Albertson said the teachers went to great lengths to make sure they crafted a "reasonable and equitable agreement" proposal.
"We polled our group, surveyed them and really weighed up what we wanted to present," Albertson said.
Alberton credited Swisher with helping smooth the process.
"Steve's influence on the matter really seemed to get a lot done," Albertson said.
"His influence is very beneficial to all concerned."
For his part, Swisher indicated that he, too, thought the negotiations went quite well.
"From my point of view, I'm very pleased with the process," Swisher said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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